Subtle superhero jackets

Awesome!

Neil Gaiman did a whole late Tudor/ Elizabethan arc in a Marvel comic once… 1602:

I didn’t know there were spin offs (including a Hulk spin off, which I assume that is a reference to!).

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I am an English Major* - I am an expert on adjectives, and a few other parts of speech.

And, as an adjectival expert, I can state with no little authority that slapping the word “Steampunk” on any random object that strikes your fancy does not make that object “Steampunk-y” any more than adding the word “feminist” to a politician’s name makes them a feminist.


* an honor conferred upon me by a 4-person committee that included one man, and two people that looked over the edges of the glasses at me, and one who noted dryly that I should have taken more literature courses.

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Liked for beating me to it.

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The number of pockets is proportional to how able a person is. Clearly! Why do you think i have sewn all these extra pockets onto all my garments. I’m not crazy!

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I bought a shirt from the SpaceX people, but the only sizes they had left were the female ones, and the 2XL was not all that big. I buy men’s shirts, just because they come in larger sizes.

eta: Go for the Luke Cage look; all you need is a hoodie. Bullet holes optional. :smiley:

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That was the first thing I noticed, yes. Also, no women characters, because what man would be interested in an insignia or design based on a female character, right?

Well, not that shocked?

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Ah, now I see it. Apparently that was a bit too subtle for me! Thank you!

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Happy to help!

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And? If you want to wear a dress, then go for it!

They’re also not the best on size ranges. They tend to be good about having a range of Men’s sizes in clothing, but not quite as good with Women’s clothing. (I recall dresses where they were only offering up to US 14 … so, about the average Women’s size in the US.)

I’ve seen professors wearing clothing that was … well, perhaps not quite as amazing as this, but they were certainly letting their geek flags fly! I’d love to have one of those, but I think I should work on other parts of my wardrobe first.

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I don’t particularly feel the need to dress in women’s styles, i appreciate ladies fashion and if i were a girl i would wear the girliest stuff ever :slight_smile: But i do appreciate the sentiment and support!

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Okay, maybe more like “fucking surprised.”

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Quite true. The assumption tends to be that the average American woman is about a size 8, and I promise you, that’s not true. I’m in 10-12ish and that seems far more common. But I think women in the plus sizes (or really tall women, or really short women, like me) often have a hard time finding clothes that fit.

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Prêt à porter isn’t really ready for anyone to wear.

I’m apparently a bit slimmer than the average American woman, but that just brings other challenges. Stores stock many size 8-14 garments in a given style, but only 1-2 in 0-6. If I find something I like, and it fits reasonably well, I gotta pay full price. If I wait for the thing to go on sale, it won’t be there when I go back.

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From observation and more recently personal experience, I’m not sure if anyone buying feminine clothing has an easy time finding clothes that fit. I do understand that at least part of this is that I’m far more used to clothing sizes that actually have some meaning, no matter how vague, but there are just a lot more variables in play than just “size.” (Or I guess more accurately, size in masculine clothing is a single value attribute, usually an integer, but size in feminine clothing is actually a class with additional attributes. All this makes it not only difficult to “translate,” but difficult even for those already immersed in the system.)

All that said, I can understand why I have difficulties finding clothes that fit. I’m taller than most people presenting as women. When you say “really tall women, or really short women …” you’ve pretty much described me and my two anchor partners. (OK, so technically we’re one really tall genderqueer person, one really short genderfluid person, and a really short women, but for these purposes we’re in that group!) None of us have an easy time finding clothes that fit. I sometimes think it would be easier for me to just give up and keep wearing masculine clothing, while incorporating other feminine presentation … but that’s what I’ve been doing for a long time already and it’s not quite “right” for my mental state.

Hmm. OK, so apparently I’ve been giving more background processing to this than I realized. This may not be completely on topic, but thanks for letting me get my thoughts out. I’ll just say that it often really helps me to explain it to others in this way.

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I’m always happy to read your thoughts and to learn more about you! :wink:

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The “easy” way to go about it is to buy the things you like, perhaps a size or two up and then tailor them to your fit. Taking it to a place/person that will do that for you can get expensive and not all garments can be easily modified. But it’s moments like those i wish i had picked up sewing as a kid, it’s such a valuable life skill that very few people seem to have.

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Awww, thank you! Now I’m blushing!

The initial difficult has been more in determining that size, though. I just went through a sales exchange for pretty much an entire order, as I ordered the wrong size based on their size charts and consulting with their live chat customer service. The problem there, of course, was that my body shape isn’t what their charts are meant to reflect, so of course that one data point (i.e., my waist size) was up by two sizes over what my other measurements were - the CS recommended I try the larger size first and send them back for a free exchange if they didn’t fit.

My other approach has been attending clothing swap events where I know I’ll be welcomed. With that, I’ve been able to try on a variety of styles and see what fits in what styles, and more importantly, what I like once I’m wearing it! (At the last swap, there was a gorgeous dress with a beautiful pattern. It fit, but the design was definitely meant to flatter those with actual cleavage. My complete lack of such really threw off the look of the outfit, so I handed it over to someone else and she looked great in it! I found other things, and we both went away happy.)

I do have some minimal sewing skill, but I lack a sewing machine. (I do enough sewing by hand for mending, but I wouldn’t want to try any serious alterations that way.) I have some access to one, and it would give me an excuse to visit two of my sweeties that I don’t get to see nearly often enough. I think I may need to learn more – being able to alter things would help a lot when trying to adjust to my “non-traditional” shape!

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That’s really great to hear that you’ve hit on some strategies for finding things that work for you, plus seems like you’re at least on a good start as far as sewing goes :slight_smile: Good luck with it. You could practice by making yourself a costume for this Halloween if you had the time

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